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Richard B Thompson
 

Richard B Thompson Ph.D.
Academic Title: Associate Professor
Primary Appointment: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
rthompso@umaryland.edu
Location: 108NG 437
Phone: (410) 706-7142

Personal History

EDUCATION

1975: B.A., Biology, Northwestern University

1981: Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

POST GRADUATE EDUCATION

1981 to 1984: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland School of Medicine

1984 to 1986: National Research Council Associate, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1986 to 1990: Research Chemist (GS-12) to Supervisory Research Chemist (GM-13) Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC

1990 to 1993: Research Associate Professor Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine

1993 to 1999: Assistant Professor Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Maryland School of Medicine

1999 to Present: Associate Professor Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Maryland School of Medicine

Research Interests

Our research is generally focused on the development of fluorescence-based biosensors for analytes of clinical and environmental interest, particularly metal ions. The biological and pathological roles of metal ions such as zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel and cobalt in humans are of growing interest in a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer disease, stroke, epilepsy, cancer, macular degeneration of the eye, and others. By using biological molecules such as carbonic anhydrase re-engineered to sense the metal by displaying a change in fluorescence, we obtain biosensors of outstanding sensitivity and selectivity which permit picomolar concentrations to be quantitatively imaged inside cells, or to be determined in complex media such as sea water. These biosensors can also be expressed inside cells of many types, or even inside individual subcellular organelles such as mitochondria. In addition, the biosensor can be incorporated into a fiber optic system that permits real time determination in a living organism, or in inaccessible sites such as the depths of the ocean.


Publications

Recent Edited Volumes, Reviews, Book Chapters
R.B. Thompson, “Zinc in stroke: Time for a new approach?” in Metal Ions in Stroke (Yang V. Li and J.H. Zhang, eds.) Berlin: Springer (2012), in the press. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-9663-3_9. 
R.B. Thompson, C.A. Fierke, C.J. Frederickson, K. McCall, B. J. McCranor, J.E. Penner-Hahn, " Measurement and imaging of free and total zinc in biological specimens, " in Zinc in Human Health (L. Rink, Ed.) Amsterdam: IOS Press pp. 163 - 191 (2011).  DOI: 10.3233/978-1-60750-816-8-163
T. K. Hurst, D. Wang, R.B. Thompson, C.A. Fierke, “Carbonic anhydrase II-based metal ion sensing: Advances and new perspectives,” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (Proteins and Proteomics) 1804, 393-403 (2010).  PMID: 19818877; NIHMSID 157045. 
R. B. Thompson, “Fluorescence lifetime biosensing: Entering the mainstream,”  in Optical Biosensors: Today and Tomorrow, 2nd Edition (F. S. Ligler and C. Rowe Taitt, eds.) New York: Elsevier, pp. 287 – 316 (2008).
R.B. Thompson, H.-H. Zeng, D. Ohnemus, B. McCranor, M.L. Cramer, J. Moffett, “Instrumentation for fluorescence-based fiber optic biosensors,” in Methods in Enzymology: Fluorescence Spectroscopy Vol. 450 (L. Brand and M.L. Johnson, editors) New York: Elsevier, pp 303 – 329 (2008). 
R.A. Bozym, T. Hurst, N. Westerberg, A.V. Stoddard, C.A. Fierke, C.J. Frederickson, R.B. Thompson, “Determination of zinc using carbonic anhydrase-based fluorescence biosensors,” in Methods in Enzymology: Fluorescence Spectroscopy Vol. 450 (L. Brand and M.L. Johnson, editors) New York: Elsevier, pp 279-301 (2008). 
R. B. Thompson, “Ultrasensitive analysis of metal ions and small molecules in living cells,” in New Frontiers in Ultrasensitive Analysis of Biomolecules and Single Living Cells (X. Nancy Xu, editor) New York: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 195 - 214 (2007).
R. B. Thompson, editor. Fluorescence Sensors and Biosensors. Boca Raton: CRC Press (2005). 
R. B. Thompson. R. A. Bozym, M. L. Cramer, A. V. Stoddard, and C. A. Fierke, “Carbonic anhydrase-based biosensing of metal ions: Issues and future prospects,” in Fluorescence Sensors and Biosensors (R. B. Thompson, ed.) Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 107 - 119 (2005). 
R. B. Thompson, C. J. Frederickson, N. Westerberg, C. A. Fierke, “Practical aspects of free zinc analysis in biological systems: pZn for the biologist,”   in Fluorescence Sensors and Biosensors (R. B. Thompson, ed.) Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 351 - 376 (2005). 
R. B. Thompson, “Studying zinc biology with fluorescence: ain’t we got fun?” Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 9(5) 526 - 532 (2005). 
C. A. Fierke and R. B. Thompson, “Fluorescence-based biosensing of zinc using carbonic anhydrase,” BioMetals 14 (3-4) 205-222 (2001). 
R. B. Thompson and J. R. Lakowicz, Editors, Fluorescence Science and Technology (Volume 16 of Selected SPIE Papers on CD-ROM); Bellingham, Society of Photoptical Instrumentation Engineers (2001). 
J. R. Lakowicz and R. B. Thompson, Editors, Proceedings of the Fifth SPIE Conference on Advances in Fluorescence Sensing Technology Vol. 4252; pp. 150 (2001). 
Selected Recent Refereed Papers
B. J. McCranor, R. A. Bozym, M. Vitolo, C. A. Fierke, L. Bambrick, B.  Polster, G. Fiskum, and R. B. Thompson, "Quantitative imaging of mitochondrial and cytosolic free zinc levels in an in vitro model of ischemia/reperfusion" Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes 44(2) 253 - 263 (2012). DOI: 10.1007/s10863-012-9427-2 PMID 22430627 NIHMS382081
D. Wang, T. K.  Hurst, R. B. Thompson, and C. A. Fierke “Genetically Encoded Ratiometric Biosensors to Measure Intracellular Exchangeable Zinc in Escherichia coli” J. Biomed. Opt.  16(8) 087011/1-11 (2011) [DOI: 10.1117/1.3613926. PMID: 21895338 PMCID: PMC3166341 . 
R.A. Bozym, F. Chimienti, L. J. Giblin, G.W. Gross, I. Korichneva, Y. Li, S. Libert, W. Maret, M. Parviz, C. J. Frederickson, and R. B. Thompson, “Free zinc outside a narrow concentration range is toxic to a variety of cells in vitro,” Exp. Biol. Med.235, 741-750 (2010). DOI: 10.1258/ebm.2010.009258  NIHMSID 203316
B.J. McCranor and R. B. Thompson, “Long wavelength fluorescence lifetime standards for front-face fluorometry” J. Fluorescence 20, 435-440 (2010).  DOI: 10.1007/s10895-009-0565-9 ; NIHMSID 203324
R. A. Bozym, A. K. Stoddard, C. A. Fierke, and R. B. Thompson, “Measuring picomolar exchangeable zinc in PC-12 cells using a ratiometric fluorescence biosensor,” ACS Chemical Biology 1(2) 103 – 111 (2006) . 
C.J. Frederickson, L. J. Giblin, B. Rengarajan, R. Masalha, C. J. Frederickson, Y. Zeng, E. V. Lopez, J.-Y. Koh, U. Chorin, L. Besser, M. Hershfinkel, Y. Li, R. B. Thompson, A Krezel, “Synaptic release of zinc from brain slices: Factors governing release, imaging, and accurate calculation of concentration, “ J. Neurosci. Methods 154, 19 - 29 (2006). 
L. J. Giblin, A. Krezel, D. J. McAdoo, R. A. Mueller, Y. Zeng, R. V. Balaji, R. Masalha, R. B. Thompson, C. A. Fierke, J. M. Sarvey, M. D. Valdenebro, D. S. Prough, and M. H. Zornow, “Concentrations of extracellular free zinc (pZn) in the central nervous system of man, rat, and rabbit during anesthesia, ischemia, and reperfusion,” Experimental Neurology 198 285 - 293 (2006). 
J. P. Sumner, N. M. Westerberg, A. K. Stoddard, T. K. Hurst, M. Cramer, R. B. Thompson, C. A. Fierke, and R. Kopelman, “DsRed as a highly sensitive, selective, and reversible fluorescence biosensor for both Cu(+) and Cu(2+) ions,” Biosens. Bioelectron. 21, 1302 – 1308 (2006). 
H. H. Zeng,, R. B. Thompson, B. P. Maliwal, G. R. Fones, J.W. Moffett, and C. A. Fierke, “Real-time determination of picomolar free Cu(II) in seawater using a fluorescence-based fiber optic biosensor, “ Analytical Chemistry 75 (24) 6807 - 6812 (2003). 
R. B. Thompson, D. Peterson, W. Mahoney, M. Cramer, B. P. Maliwal, S. W. Suh, C. Frederickson, C. Fierke, and P. Herman, “Fluorescent zinc indicators for neurobiology,” J. Neuroscience. Methods 118, 63 - 75 (2002). 
R. B. Thompson, M. L. Cramer, R. Bozym, and C. A. Fierke, “Excitation ratiometric fluorescent biosensor for zinc ion at picomolar levels,” J. Biomed. Optics 7 (4), 555 - 506 (2002).  
S. W. Suh, R. B. Thompson, and C. J. Frederickson, “Loss of vesicular zinc and appearance of perikaryal zinc after seizures induced by pilocarpine,” NeuroReport 12(7) 1523 - 1525 (2001). 
K. A. Taylor, C. B. O’Connell, R. Thompson, and M. S. Donnenberg, “The role of pyridoxal phosphate in the function of EspB, a protein secreted by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli,” FEBS Letters 488, 55 - 58 (2001). 
R. B. Thompson, W. O. Whetsell, B. P. Maliwal, C. A. Fierke, and C. J. Frederickson, “Fluorescence microscopy of stimulated Zn(II) release from organotypic cultures of mammalian hippocampus using a carbonic anhydrase-based biosensor system,” Journal of Neuroscience Methods 96 35-45 (2000). 
R. B. Thompson, B. P. Maliwal, and H.-H. Zeng, “Zinc biosensing with multiphoton excitation using carbonic anhydrase and improved fluorophores,” Journal of Biomedical Optics 5(1) 17-22 (2000). 
J. M. Mullaney, R. B. Thompson, Z. Gryczynski, and L. W. Black, “Green fluorescent protein as a probe of rotational mobility within bacteriophage T4,” J. Virological Methods 88 35 - 40 (2000). 
S. W. Suh, G. Danscher, M. S. Jensen, R. Thompson, M. Motamedi, and C. J. Frederickson, “Release of synaptic zinc is substantially depressed by conventional brain slice preparations,” Brain Research 879(1-2) 7 - 12 (2000).